Genoa have a problem for Wednesday. Samuel Wiafe, born in 2008, the most pleasant surprise of their season, picked up an adductor complaint in Sunday’s win against Venezia and is almost certain to be absent for Juventus. For De Rossi, who has grown to depend on the teenager across the last month, the timing is genuinely damaging.
From Modena for €3m to Genoa First-Team Regular — the Wiafe Story
Signed from Modena in July for €3 million, Wiafe spent the first five matches on the bench without a minute. His opportunity came on 10 October — 33 minutes in the victory over Fiorentina — and the performance was sufficiently positive that De Rossi installed him as a first-team fixture from that point forward. In a matter of weeks, a player who arrived as depth for the Primavera squad became a starter in Serie A’s midweek rotation.
De Rossi’s own account of the discovery is characteristically direct: “He is someone who almost fell into our lap — I never really considered him at the start of the summer, he was more of a Primavera player. He caught our attention with his physical strength, and then his ability to play under pressure and without fear.” The defining quality De Rossi identifies: “He has understood one fundamental thing — in modern football you have to run a lot. Samuel does, and does it well. That is why he is putting himself in the best conditions to achieve things.”
On Wiafe’s future: “You’ll be hearing a lot about him. I really like him a lot.”
Mancini Sends Bonucci — Italy Under-19 and National Team Interest
The institutional endorsement is significant. Roberto Mancini, the Italy senior manager, sent Leonardo Bonucci to watch Wiafe in person in recent days to assess his development ahead of upcoming Nations League fixtures. The teenager is already in the Under-19 setup. The pathway from Modena’s youth system to a Bonucci scout visit in October of his first Serie A season is strikingly rapid.
Juventus and Roma — Both Following in Future Transfer Context
The transfer dimension is stated directly: Juventus and Roma are both monitoring Wiafe as a long-term prospect. Given Carnevali’s explicit public commitment to building with Italian players and the ongoing search for midfield profiles in the Alessandro Romano mould — a young Italian midfielder with physical and technical quality — Wiafe fits the profile precisely. At 18, bought for €3m, now an established Serie A presence with Italy age-group representation and De Rossi’s personal endorsement, his value is already substantially higher than the purchase price. Juventus playing against him tomorrow evening — without the player they’ve been scouting — provides a natural further data point.
Two items from the Calciomercato.com trending sidebar worth flagging: Harry Kane has won the Ballon d’Or 2026. And a Gazzetta dello Sport retroscena is trending (item 6) about a specific meeting in which Juventus asked Spalletti to change formation — presumably the post-Lazio session that led to the 3-5-2 shift, though the exact content warrants a separate look if you want it translated.
